deficit

With a hard Brexit looming, the government is keen to forget all about the deficit – it is Labour’s job to make sure it does not, argues Christabel Cooper Back in the summer of 2015 – those halcyon days when Labour were a piffling eight points behind in the opinion polls – I attended a Progress …

In the final six months before 2010’s general election, something strange happened. Amid the global recession, the Labour government had intervened heroically to keep the economy afloat, spending whatever was necessary to stabilise the banks and to maintain consumer confidence and employment, investment and spending. Barely a week would go by without new investment – …

George Osborne is trying to clear the decks for the new Tory leader by getting the government’s mistakes out of the way now. Yesterday he signalled that his great mission of delivering an overall budget surplus by 2020 was to be consigned to history less than a year after he had first promised it. He failed to …

In their far-sighted article for Juncture on the coming decade and the future of the left, Gavin Kelly and Nick Pearce offer a comprehensive and compelling analysis of the underlying forces that will shape British politics for the remainder of this decade, and beyond. At the heart of their piece is the argument that any …

When George Osborne stands up for the autumn statement on 25 November, remember this figure: £60bn. Why? Because that is his deficit. Not the budget gap caused by the global financial crisis. Not the deficit he says he inherited. That is the Osborne deficit. According to the Office for Budget Responsibility, it is the gap …

The very worst feeling in the world, as I was growing up at least, was when I heard my father utter the words ‘I’m not angry, I’m just really disappointed.’ I had a great dad who loved me very much and, I can testify to this now I have children of my own, could not …

Labour has been in shock since May, but it is now time to start building a positive case that we can take to the electorate in five year’s time. In doing this we must strike a balance between ideological purity and a programme the electorate will support. Jon Cruddas’ research shows that voters will elect …

It is time for Labour’s first woman prime minister, argues Liz Kendall Wearing a Hillary Clinton signature pantsuit, Liz Kendall strides into the room. We meet her ahead of a whistle stop she is taking to the marginal seats Labour was expecting to win last month and needs to win if it is to replace …

Yvette Cooper claims the party must win back the businesswoman who said Labour ‘broke her heart’ David Cameron ‘has a woman problem,’ Yvette Cooper tells us, and she is determined to give him ‘an even bigger one’ by becoming the first female leader of the Labour party. Her ambition is to challenge him ‘personally’ to try …

Labour is right to stress that it will cut the deficit it will inherit after the election in May. The party has continued to lag in polling on economic credibility, and in particular on cutting the deficit (see a recent YouGov poll). Ed Miliband’s speech was an important step and the message will need to …